Consultancy

MicroProcessor Engineering Limited offers a range of consultancy services. We can provide assistance for software application, compiler development and extension, and also hardware design and build. A customer recently remarked:“If we had started with you we would be two and a half years ahead.”

Project Handling

Before developing a new application or enhancing your existing design to fulfil new requirements, we meet with our customers to discuss their needs and to share ideas.

Our staff understands new application demands in depth and will push for more details if there are unknown areas. This means we can design systems that very closely meet your needs.

Having defined the system, we use our rapid application development tools to make prototype models, which are then discussed with our customers to ensure that the final application design matches the original requirement and is well accepted when finally implemented.

Design reviews at all critical stages allow the software to be seen by the client, then discussed, and any necessary rework documented and performed before the next project review. This approach usually means that the software can be almost signed off at these stages and does not have to be constantly referenced in later points.

Also, training plans can be discussed and started at an earlier stage, and a degree of factory testing can be built in.

Applications

HTML 5 GUI interface

Multi-user file locking

Automatic translation of C header files to Forth

TCP/IP protocols

Lighting controls

Racing car instrumentation

RFID tag interfaces

USB host interface

Vending machine controller

Biometrics scanner

Industrial networking

Security video viewer

Uninterruptible power supplies

Autoclave

Bomb disposal manipulator

Anaesthetic ventilators

Firmware upgrade mechanisms

Windows support

Industrial controller

Soldering machines

Typical Compiler Support Requests

Ports to new CPUs and boards

Device drivers

Version identification extension

RISC compilers

SNMP MIB compiler

Language extensions

Portable binary code systems

Hardware Design

System cost reduction

Custom ARM CPU boards

Intelligent comms card

Custom peripherals

Cost

Consultancy can be provided either on a fixed price basis or at a daily rate.

Experience

MPE has over 30 years experience of application programming using Forth. Nearly all the software products mentioned on this website have been written in-house using MPE Forths. This means that the MPE team has a wealth of experience.

Project Management

Experience is nothing if we do not learn from it. MPE’s project management is derived from our 30 years of application experience within the company itself, and from our experiences before that. MPE has had experience of small and large projects both domestic and international. MPE was the coordinating partner for a multinational European Commission ESPRIT project.

Experienced Forth contractors

MPE maintains a list of experienced Forth professionals available for on-site contract work or as permanent employees. Project management can be provided by our permanent staff.

New from mpe – click on title for more information

Southampton, UK – 04 May 2016 – MPE today announced Interactive C support for ARM architecture via SockPuppet. The later a bug is found in the design cycle, the more design costs increase. Interactive debugging and adding test harnesses from the start ensures the code stays close to the initial […]

VFX Forth version 4.7 VFX Forth features common to all versions VFX Forth for Windows VFX Forth for Mac OS X VFX Forth for x86 Linux VFX Forth for ARM Linux VFX Forth for DOS There are new library interfaces to libcurl, libiconv, SQLite3 and zlib. Additional notations have been […]

Forth 7 cross compiler and targets Professional version includes PowerNet In detail … Version 7 of the MPE Forth cross compiler produces over 500 kb of binary code per second. There are many detail improvements to the compilers and the target code. The first major item for users of 32 […]

Lite cross compilers Lite compilers are for Windows only; they run well under Wine and other Windows emulators. Lite compilers are free of charge and are for non-commercial use only. If you want to commercialise your project just upgrade to a compatible Stamp, Standard or Professional compiler with more […]

We have considered many schemes for increasing the use of Forth. In the embedded world, the situation has become that you can download free (of charge) versions of many compilers for many programming languages. We feel that we have to do the same to reach new users and promote the […]

I was trying to avoid some work, and stumbled across this post (republished with permission) on one of the LinkedIn discussions. If you are at all interested in software reliability, Les Hatton is someone to respect. I was lost on LinkedIn (not for the first time) and spotted this discussion. […]